The retail sector saw fewer announced job cuts in June than in May, signaling industry improvement, according to a new report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The retail sector announced 1,415 layoffs in June, compared to 2,944 in May. Moreover, the number of job cuts announced by retail employers for the first six months of the year dropped 12 percent to 23,027 from a year earlier.
Management
Two American Apparel Inc. board members resigned over the weekend. The move was expected after the Los Angeles clothing maker reported last week that it had appointed two new board members, one of them effective immediately, the other effective "upon future board vacancy."
Wal-Mart Stores announced that its U.K.-based Asda unit has promoted Judity McKenna to the position of chief operating officer. McKenna is currently Asdaโs finance director.
To celebrate Independence Day in honor of military troops and their families, Old Navy announced its entire U.S. fleet of about 1,000 stores will host Operation Troop Donation: a donation drive to collect essential items needed by the men and women serving our country, away and at home.
With online purchases on the rise, some retailers are reducing the size of brick-and-mortar stores in an effort to lower costs. Staples, Office Depot and Best Buy are the latest retailers to unveil plans to reduce store footprints.
American Apparel, the clothing chain that raised cash earlier this year to avoid a shortfall, is in talks to replace two of its six board members, according to three people involved in the discussions.
Timberland's announced the appointment of Mark Newton as vice president of corporate social responsibility, effective June 13. In this new role, Newton will lead Timberland's diverse global team responsible for managing the organization's four areas of focus within CSR: environmental stewardship, global human rights, community engagement and transparency and reporting.
Investors and analysts tend to rate retail industry CEOs with a completely different set of criteria than retail employees would use to rate their boss's boss's boss's boss. So if you asked the employees of the largest U.S. retail industry chains if they approved of their CEO, what would they say?
An Apple store employee has started a drive to unionize retail workers of the company. Cory Moll, a part-time employee at an Apple store in San Francisco, is working to form a union to fight for better wages and benefits and to address what he says are unfair practices.
Kmart is laying off 700 employees in its appliance departments. The chain is changing the way it sells appliances, allowing customers to check out appliances at any register rather than going to a dedicated register. Instead of having dedicated appliance-only associates, all Kmart staffers are being trained to answer questions about appliances.